Bolt gun - Wood/Blued steel vs. Synthetic/stainless

[fnslpmark112]

For a bolt action hunting gun, which do you like better? I know the advantages of stainless and synthetic stocked guns. Are there any advantages to a wood stocked blued steel gun?

 

[BrocLuno]

Wood/blue can feel better in hand, but so can stainless/laminated wood. There is something about the feel of wood that is smoother and warmer. Wood with penetrating epoxy in the barrel channel (to stop wet swell) and an action bedding job can be nearly as reliable and a good synthetic stock. Keeping wood looking nice is tougher.

As far as blue and reliability, if it's not slow rust blued, it does not have a great resistance to weather. How about KG Gun Kote and wood?

Why do you ask? Is there a debate in the family about what to get you for Christmas?

 

[Jonny V]

When I was younger and concerned with "possibilities" like being out in freezing rain and snow for months on end, or somehow being involved in a colossal Kursk-style battle, I wanted stainless and composite stocks real bad.

Now that I'm older, I understand that the most bad weather I'm likely to see is one day's worth or so, I really like the looks of a nice blueing job and good quality walnut. The fact is, stainless and synthetic is totally un-needed by 100% of all sportsmen in the USA. Equally true is that we don't base our spending decisions on 'need' alone.

For every person like me, there is one out there who loves the look of s/s.

 

[Abel]

I like wood and blue because it looks better and it works fine; has worked fine for a couple centuries. The synthetic stuff is great and I own some. But I prefer wood.

 

[Jonny V]

Come to think of it, the old-school browning looks real good. Might look off the hook good with a premium piece of walnut under it too. For me, stainless and plastic just looks cheap and mass produced, not that they don't shoot good.......

 

[CraigC]

Stainless steel, synthetic stocked rifles with big powerful optics are wonderful hunting implements, terribly efficient and resistant to inclement weather. They are also, in my opinion, unattractive, soulless and sterile tools that do absolutely nothing to stir my heart. To some, guns are tools and that is fine. For me, they are a passion and life is too short to spend it with any gun that is an ugly, soulless tool. Despite the condescending comments that are sure to follow about "pretty" guns that are nice to look at, blued and walnut rifles have withstood centuries of hard use and there is no reason to believe that this does not still hold true. I use my guns, all of them, no matter how fancy or what they cost and don't consider the slight advantages of stainless/synthetic rifles to be worth the trade-off with their less tangible shortcomings.

 

[fnslpmark112]

The reason for asking is that I am debating which version of the Winchester 70 to buy in 30-06.

It is the Stainless synthetic SS Extreme version or the Wood blued steel Sporter version. I actually like the Sporter better. But, I don't want a gun that changes POI if the stock gets wet and swells.

I take care of my guns, so I am not worried about rust.

 

[unwise11]

I like a nice black synthetic, and a blue'd action. stainless is alright. not really good for blending in. and it also produces more glare if not parkerized.

 

[viking499]

I like blued and wood. I also like stainless and wood.

 

[tactikel]

I'm old school; blue and wood; maybe synthetic and blue, but never stainless on a hunting gun.

 

[WYcoyote]

Now that I'm older, I understand that the most bad weather I'm likely to see is one day's worth or so, I really like the looks of a nice blueing job and good quality walnut. The fact is, stainless and synthetic is totally un-needed by 100% of all sportsmen in the USA.

I'm not sure you would say this if you were on a few of the horseback pack trips for elk in Montana and Wyoming that my friends and I have been on. Some years the weather is inclement beyond belief.
When you get to camp late and wet, and to tired to eat, sometimes your gun doesn't get the TLC that the nice blueing job needs. We don't have a team of outfitters to cook, care for the horses, and feed the wood stove.
I feel I totally need a SS/Syn. rifle.

 

[amlevin]

Stainless/Synthetic is always just a rifle.

Wood/blued can be a work of art. If you built it yourself, it's priceless.

 

[Jonny V]

nothing on the face of this earth, including your sleep, is more important than your rifle.

 

[Phaethon]

When I was younger and concerned with "possibilities" like being out in freezing rain and snow for months on end, or somehow being involved in a colossal Kursk-style battle, I wanted stainless and composite stocks real bad.

It would certainly do a number on your stock aesthetically, but even if you were sniping on Mount Kilimanjaro or Russia in 1943, in the end it would hold up and simply result in a much uglier and thrown-around stock, wouldn't it? I mean, can't you always just sand and refinish a wooden stock if you don't like its worn look?

 

[R.W.Dale]

For a bolt action hunting gun I greatly prefer and look for stainless and synthetic purely on the basis of upkeep and wear.

In general I prefer blued wood but it's a shame to mess up a nice rifle dragging it through the bushes. I also don't want to risk POI shifts cause I had to destock my blued gun that got rained on to reoil properly.

As to no soul I dunnow.

As a gen x'er I can remember seeing my first ruger M77 mkII all weather in a hunting magazine in the middle school library and thinking that's the coolest looking gun I've ever seen! Today I own one in 30-06 and love that rifle just as dearly or more so as I do my 60's vintage lyman sighted rem725 in the same caliber

 

[BrocLuno]

OK, so how's the stock going to get wet and swell? I'm not being a smart-alec here, I want to know about your hunting situations? That is, does the rifle and stock sit in the open rain or mist while you man a ridge-line waiting for movement? Or do you travel by boat? Or, is it just nasty high humid where you hunt?

I have refinished a few stocks in my time, and if the barrel channel is well sealed and the action bedding area is too, it takes a lot of water to start making the stock change. Also, if the barrel is cleanly free floated, the forearm will never touch it, so what is the concern?

I do have some older Remington with a pressure point in the barrel channel and they will move around until I get them really well sealed. On a hunting rifle refinish, penetrating epoxy is your friend for first seal coat

 

[Welding Rod]

I think it is smart to have one plastic hunting rifle, but I would be hard pressed to come up with a good reason to own two.

 

[R.W.Dale]

I think it is smart to have one plastic hunting rifle, but I would be hard pressed to come up with a good reason to own two.

If you had more than one family member who hunts, particularly ones who aren't all into guns and their proper field care

 

[viking499]

Between myself and family(wife and kids), I have at least 2 each of the rifle calibers we hunt with. Some wood, some plastic, some of both.

 

[Robert Wilson]

Another blue/walnut guy here. When I hunt in the wet - and I do - I simply give everything a good coat of wax. Never had any problems with water damage, impact shift, etc. Of course, my hunting rifles still acquire the inevitable dings. I just call it "character". But were I to go hunting in Alaska or some other environment known to be very hard on guns, I would give stainless/synthetic real consideration. And probably sell it when I'm done!

But as for actual (as opposed to emotional) advantages of wood? Only one I know of: it's a lot easier to modify wood stocks than most synthetics, for LOP, cast, cheeking, and whatever else you might want. In that light, I suspect wood laminates may be the best all-around stocks available. Too bad they're as ugly as synthetics...

 

[fnslpmark112]

How would you guys rate the wood stock that is on the Winchester Model 70 Sporter? Would it be sealed from the factory? Or, is there something I would need to do to seal it?

(you guys are talking me into wood and blue steel)

 

[mgmorden]

I think it is smart to have one plastic hunting rifle, but I would be hard pressed to come up with a good reason to own two.

Nail on the head there. Personally, there is nothing attractive about a synthetic stock to me (stainless finish is a take-it or leave-it kinda thing - doesn't bother me, but I"ll not jump up and down for it). That said, I am willing to deal with synthetic for a pure utility gun. My duck-hunting shotguns for example - all synthetic. Those guns aren't for show, and I don't really shoot them recreationaly either - they're just for hunting.

That said, SO FAR I've managed to stick to mostly wood on my rifles. Only synthetic stocks I have are my AR15 (can't avoid that), and an old SMLE that I've never been able to get to shoot well enough to take hunting. I just like wood/blue better on those guns.

That said, much like the shotguns - I've been considering getting a synthetic stocked rifle STRICTLY as a hunting setup. Some of that is weather-related - a lot of it is weight. In particular, I'm looking at either a Tikka T3 Lite or a Kimber 84 Montana in 7mm-08 with one of the lightweight Leupold VX-II's.

 

[jmr40]

You gonna look at it or use it.

I just got back from a weeks hunt in the mountains of Colorado. Driving rain and mud the first few days and freezing weather and snow the last few days. A wood stock and blue metal may have done OK, maybe not. My McMillan stocked stainless Winchester shrugged it off with no worries. After driving 1700 miles and paying $330 for a license I wasn't staying in camp.

No matter how hard you try you will never completely seal a wood stock. Even if you could, the wood still has about 10-15% moisture content sealed inside the wood. Temperature, and barometric pressure changes will still cause a completely sealed piece of wood to expand and contract from the inside.

I got into backpack hunting into rough areas back in 1977 and almost always hunt miles from the road in any weather. By 1982 my walnut stocked rifle looked like it had been attacked by a pack of rabid beaver from miles of packing and rubbing against 1970's era packs with their metal buckles and frames.

Replaced that sucker with a Garrett Accu-lite stock in 1982 and never looked back. That rifle is now 3/4 lb lighter and more accurate to boot. I have not been in the woods with a walnut stocked bolt rifle in nearly 30 years. If I feel the urge to hunt with walnut/blue I take one of my Marlin or Winchester leverguns.

 

[Dookie]

If you want to use the piss out of it, go with SS and laminate. If it is only going to be a couple times a year, blued and wood is fine. However, climate changes can screw with it and can ruin wood. Take a blued rifle out on a cold damp morning and see what happens to it.

It's a tool and meant to be used as such. Tools are meant to be taken care of, but it sure is nice when they don't rust or swell.

A rifle can have meaning, history, sentimentality, but it can never have a soul. It is an object, buy the one you want, or build the one you want. I may not prefer wood and blued, but if you buy one with those features, you can be sure I will want to see a picture of it.

 

[brettrow]

Always go with Synthetic (as long as its a GOOD quality stock like HS, bell and carlson) because they will NOT warp in changing weather. Always go with SS barrels, they resist rust better . I cant recommend the winchester model 70 extreme weather SS enought, I love this gun. It has a bell and carlson stock and SS barrel. I own Rem 700s but I prefer the Winchester now. I like the looks just fine, but I dont buy rifles to be pretty, I buy them to be tough in all weather and Synthetic stocks with SS barrels is the way to go. Stay away from Flimsy stocks (like remington 700s)